NY state-Amazon team lose bid for one of 10 national drone test sites

Posted May 14, 2018

A package from Amazon Prime is loaded for delivery on a UPS truck in New York in this May, 9, 2017 file photo. The company wants to experiment with delivery by drone in New York state.(Mark Lennihan | AP)

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Transportation has rejected a bid from New York state, Amazon and other partners who wanted to make the state one of 10 new national test sites for drone technology.

Amazon proposed teaming up with the state and Syracuse-based NUAIR Alliance to test package delivery by drone, a move that would have required a waiver of existing safety rules from the Federal Aviation Administration.

But federal officials instead selected 10 other locations as test sites for a program launched by President Donald Trump last year to speed the safe integration of drones into the national airspace.

The 10 projects approved by Trump's administration include other high-profile technology companies -- such as Google parent Alphabet, Intel and Uber - that will team up in public-private partnerships.

The FAA had previously designated the Syracuse-based NUAIR Alliance in 2013 as one of seven national test sites for developing technology to safely integrate drones into the national airspace.

NUAIR had touted the availability of its 50-mile drone test corridor between Syracuse and Griffiss International Airport in Rome as a reason why it should be selected for the new FAA program.

U.S. Rep. John Katko said Monday that the federal decision to exclude New York and Amazon didn't make sense, and he plans to demand an explanation this week from FAA officials.

The federal government received 149 applications from communities and corporate partners who wanted permission to break FAA rules and experiment with drone flights over people, at night, and beyond the operator's visual line of sight.

Katko, R-Camillus, and Reps. Claudia Tenney, R-New Hartford, and Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, had touted New York state as the perfect place to do those experiments.

The state's application, which has not been made public, listed five unique environments within New York where the drones could be tested, according to Katko.

The proposed test areas were in the 50-mile air drone corridor between Syracuse and Rome, the Adirondack Park, airspace around John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, airspace over commuter rail lines in the greater New York City area, and land along the border of New York and Massachusetts.

"We have one of the most, if not the most, advanced drone research apparatus up and running in the country," Katko said in an interview. "It has spawned a lot of private interest and private investment. This program was going to bring it to the next level of research."

Katko said he found it "highly confounding that a site like ours with all of that capability" and a $95 million commitment of support from New York state would have been beaten out by 10 other proposals.

Katko, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said he will meet in his Washington office this week with DOT and FAA officials to learn more about their decision.

"They're going to sit down and talk with us and explain why we didn't qualify," Katko said. "We're deeply disappointed. I think it's a shock to the industry nationwide that we weren't designated."

Katko said he didn't know if politics entered into the decision. Trump has been critical of Amazon, the nation's largest e-commerce business, and its chief executive Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said it's possible her department will approve additional projects in the coming months.

Amazon officials declined to provide more details about their proposal in New York, and an FAA official said he could not immediately make public the state's application.

An Amazon official said in a statement that the company would continue to pursue its highly-publicized effort to develop a safe way to use drones for its business.

"While it's unfortunate the applications we were involved with were not selected, we support the administration's efforts to create a pilot program aimed at keeping America at the forefront of aviation and drone innovation," said Brian Huseman, vice president of Amazon Public Policy.

Nevada-based Flirtey, a drone delivery startup, told Reuters it was a partner on four of the winning projects.

The 10 winning teams selected by the FAA are:

Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority in Memphis, Tenn., which plans to work with package and shipping giant FedEx.

Lee County Mosquito Control District in Fort Myers, Fla. The project involves low-altitude use of drone for mosquito spraying and surveillance.

Kansas Department of Transportation in Topeka, Kansas.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority in Herndon, Va. The alliance will team up with an existing drone research site at Virginia Tech.

San Diego, Calif., working in partnership with AT&T's national first-responder network authority, FirstNet.

The Choctaw Indian Nation of Oklahoma, working in partnership with cable news network CNN and the Green Valley Farms Living Laboratory.

The city of Reno, Nevada, which will partner with commercial medical companies to develop a prototype for medical deliveries.

University of Alaska-Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska

North Dakota Department of Transportation in Bismarck, N.D.

North Carolina Department of Transportation in Raleigh, N.C., which plans to test local package delivery by drone in a defined airspace.